Artificial intelligence is taking the pizza business by storm, with a host of start-ups introducing machines that churn out pizza faster and cheaper than humans.
Why it matters: While robots are making steady inroads in the restaurant industry, pizza is the place where automation may make its earliest and most transformative mark.
Driving the news: Some of the brightest minds in engineering have turned their attention to pizza, building contraptions that can stretch dough, apply tomato sauce, and sprinkle cheese and toppings without human intervention.
- Steller Pizza, founded by a former SpaceX rocket scientist, will open this month in Los Angeles with a fleet of trucks staffed by robotic pizza chefs (and human drivers).
- Pizza HQ, in New Jersey has converted a traditional pizzeria into a robotic one, with plans to expand.
- Picnic Works is a tech company that leases the “Picnic Pizza Station,” a modular assembly line that can make up to 100 pizzas an hour.
What they’re saying: “Nobody in food service has enough staff,” says Clayton Wood, CEO of Picnic Works, whose machines have been used by Domino’s, SeaWorld and Chartwells, the school cafeteria vendor.
- Another problem robots solve? Consistency. “We’re making a better pizza because it’s made to the recipe,”
Getting robots to make pizza is harder than it looks. Frozen pizzas are routinely assembled in a factory, but the process doesn’t translate easily to a restaurant or food truck.
- “I’ve got a team of 30 SpaceX engineers designing the machinery, and it’s actually really hard,” Benson Tsai, Stellar Pizza’s co-founder and CEO.
- His company’s machines take pre-formed dough balls, stretch them out, and add sauce, cheese, and toppings.
Between the lines: While some craftsmanship may be lost when robotic hands replace fleshly ones, there are plenty of advantages — like the ability to produce mass quantities at low prices.
- “We actually can make a fresher pizza because we’re trying to shrink these giant pizza factories into little boxes,” said Tsai.
Yes, but: There’s already been one noteworthy flop: Zume Pizza, which raised $375 million from SoftBank, shuttered its robot-crafted pizza service in 2020 amid “complaints about cheese dripping everywhere [and] paltry little sauce on the pizza,” as per Input magazine.
- Plus, topping options are limited when a robot wears the apron.
- “When you look at things like broccoli, it’s tough to put in there,” said PizzaHQ co-founder Jason Udrija. “If you look at olives — olives are very wet, and it’s hard. It doesn’t work well with the machine.”
The bottom line: While robot-made pizzas may one day be the norm, they’ll likely face consumer scepticism for now.
